


Paraiba Tourmaline

by hawkeyemorelikehawkaye



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Art, Basically Steven's mom is a paraiba tourmaline instead of rose, F/F, The crystal gems are differnet but its good i promise
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-20
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-09 03:47:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19881100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hawkeyemorelikehawkaye/pseuds/hawkeyemorelikehawkaye
Summary: In this AU, Steven's mother was a gem named Paraiba Tourmaline. It's a rare type of blue gem, and because she kicked off the rebellion instead of Rose Quartz, the Crystal Gems are different people.The current crystal gems consist of an unknown gem called Mint, Pearl (the same one), a Rose Quartz (not the same one) named Rosey, Amethyst (same one), and an Era 1 Sapphire (again, not the same one).Also due to the difference in who the his mother was, Steven now has light brown hair and wears blue and dark blue sandals and shirts respectively.





	1. Sky Arena

**Author's Note:**

> Steven and Mint go to the Sky Arena together. Mint tells a story.

The warp pad lit up, causing Steven to glance up. He was on the couch, curled up with a book. 

Mint and Rosey were both standing there. A lime bubble hovered over one of Minty's four hands, a gem inside it. 

Mint was ten feet tall and slender, with light mint green hair covering one of her eyes and spiking up on the back of her head. Two gemstones, a very pale green, sat, one on top of the other, on her chest. Her skin was light green with light yellow and blue splotches.

She wore a dark green outfit, with light purple ballet flats. Her eyes were a rich green color, and she didn't have eyebrows.

Rosey was seven feet tall, with broad shoulders and thick arms. Her skin was light pink, and her pink hair was long and fluffy. Her gem was on her navy, and she wore a dark magenta dress with short sleeves that covered her feet. A diamond-shaped hole let her gem glint in the light, and she held her axe.

Her axe had a grey-pink handle and a dark purple handle, a purple-silver blade reflecting the light.

Steven squinted and called out. "Rosey! Why d'you have your axe out?"

Rosey laughed and swung it up on her shoulder. "Gem monster in town. Gonna go help the others while Mint takes you to the sk–" Mint shoved one of her hands over Rosey's mouth.

"Now, don't go around spoiling the surprises!" Mint said in a sing-song voice. "Get your bag and we'll go!" She shooed him off with all four of her hands. "Go, go, go!"

Steven went to the closet and began rummaging through it, grabbing his hot-dog backpack. Mint, who liked to take him on random adventures, always packed it whenever they were going somewhere.

Opening it up, he found a light jacket, a camera, and– oddly enough– a parachute.

"You ready?" Mint called from the warp pad. Steven nodded and rushed to stand next to her. Mint's gems lit up, followed closely by the warp pad. The column of light engulfed his sight, and when it lowered, Steven gasped.

They stood on a warp pad, on top of the crumbling remains of an arena. The floor was falling apart, huge chunks of the floor missing. There were no walls, but bleachers lined the sides. Statues of gems, broken and crumbling, sat in front of huge pillars.

The most shocking part, however, was that it was several thousand miles up in the air. Frosty air nipped at his skin, and he quickly put on his jacket. A cloud was floating by abive, and a low curl of vapor engulfed the arena.

Steven giggled, shaking water droplets out of his light brown hair. "What is this place?"

Mint grinned, pressing two hands together. "This, Steven, is the Sky Arena!"

"What happened to it?" Steven, while not as excited about history as Mint, could certainly be excited.

"When your mother, Paraiba Tourmaline, first began the rebellion, she worked for Blue Diamond. One day..."

_"Your clarity," Several amethyst guards bowed to Paraiba as she stepped off the warp pad. She wore a dark blue jumpsuit with a blue diamond symbol and yellow trim. Her hair was brushing against her chin, and her eyes were wide._

_She stepped past them, walking towards the Kindergarten. Smooth black rock sucked all the warmth out of the air. When she got to her destination, a yellow palinquin, she slipped behind it and approached the gem waiting for her._

_A rose quartz. She was six feet tall, with thick magenta hair in a braid and gem glinting on her forehead. Her skin was a light pink, eyes a darker shade. She wore the standard quartz uniform and had a white diamond symbol._

_Paraiba bowed to the quartz. "I understand you are interested in learning more about the earth?" She questioned._

_The quartz nodded. "Very. I would like to see a few possible bases." Paraiba nodded and the two set off. They marched away, through a forest and to the bottom of a deep ocean._

_A sea cave sat in front of them, a rose quartz and a peridot both guarding it._

_"This is my Advisor, Rosey, and my Deputy, Peridot." Paraiba introduced the rose quartz to the guards. "Let's go get you outfitted. What is your weapon?" They walked deeper into the cave._

_The rose quartz grinned softly and summoned her weapon— a scythe. The handle was a shade of pink almost black, and the blade was silver-pink._

_Paraiba took the handle and examined it, twirling it once. "I'll see if Ali can make something to improve it."_

_The rose quartz quirked an eyebrow. "Ali? Like a Mali Garnet?" Paraiba laughed._

_"Yes, she's our weaponsmith. She's been here almost as long as Rosey."_

_Paraiba nodded to another gem, an Aventurine with a misshapen gem on her back._

_Aventurine grabbed the rose quartz's hand and dragged her to another room. Hundreds of gems were battle training, and rose quartz went to join them._

_Aventurine glanced around the room one last time before turning on her heel and marching to the meeting room._

_"Pink Diamond, leave this planet!" Declared Paraiba, sword pointed towards the palinquin. "We will not allow this colony to be completed!"_

__

_Pink Diamond glowered at them, nudging her pearl forwards with her foot. The pearl nodded and crept forwards ever so slightly to speak to a sapphire._

__

_Mint, from next to Paraiba, danced forwards in a flash of green and swung her blade at the sapphire._

__

_Pink Diamond's pearl gasped and lunged forwards, engulfing both herself and the sapphire in a brilliant white light!_

__

_Then, instead of a pearl and a sapphire, a whole new gem stood there. She was short, with pale blue skin and sky-blue hair. Her one eye was a dark blue, and her plump body was covered with a pink-and-blue splotched dress._

__

_Her arms split at the elbow, one pair of hands thick and the other thin and elegant. There was one gem on her forehead, a pearl, and one on her left cheek. They were both a pale grey-blue color._

__

_The fusion glanced around for a second before her form began to waver, and Sapphire and Pearl split apart._

__

_Silence reigned. Then–_

__

_"How DARE you fuse with my pearl, you SNIVELING EXCUSE FOR A SAPPHIRE?!" Bellowed Pink Diamond. "You shall be BROKEN for this!"_

__

_Pearl gasped and grabbed Sapphire's hand, suddenly bolting away. They approached the edge, and Pearl curled herself around the blue gem._

__

_Pink Diamond screeched, slamming her fist on the arm of her throne. "I want them FOUND, and I want that sapphire SHATTERED!"_

__

_The palinquin slammed its legs down, shattering sky arena's ground. Then, it rocketed off, a small pink dot in an expanse of blue._

"So Pink Diamond broke the Sky Arena?" Questioned Steven. "Just because she was mad?"

Mint nodded. "It's important not to let your temper control you, Steven."

They warped back after that, and that night, as Steven lay in his bed, he glanced at the portrait of his mother. She sat, as still as ever, keeping a silent watch over the house.


	2. Hero Essay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven's class is set an essay on who their hero is. Steven struggles with it.

Steven glanced up as the bell rang, signalling the end of class. The teacher clapped her hands together, drawing the groups attention back to them. 

"Alright, class! Remember, this week's assignment is to write an essay on one of your personal heros!" She exclaimed. Then, they were free to go. Steven rushed out and grabbed his backpack (a sparkly pink one that he had been been given for his birthday) before running out, waving a goodbye to Peedee.

When he got to the beach house, he slammed the temple open, startling Amethsyt and Sapphire, who were talking about something on the couch.

Amethyst was short, with long lilac hair and a gem on her chest. She wore a light pink long sleeve shirt and navy pants. One of her eyes was covered with hair, and her skin was purple.

Sapphire was equally short, with ocean blue skin and long light cyan hair that covered her eye. She wore a dark purple dress with a pale lilac undershirt, and her gem was on her left cheek.

"Hey, Ste-man!" Greeted Amethyst, waving lazily. Sapphire nodded at him as he set up his homework at the table.  
Pencil hovering over the piece of paper, Steven paused. Who should he write an essay about?

Biting his lip, he glanced at Amethyst and Sapphire playing chess on the floor. He was only allowed to write the essay about one person — he would have to choose one gem.

Amethyst was the first gem Steven shadowed for a day. 

To start off, he followed her and Pearl to deal with a few gem monsters. They warped to a huge gem structure. Made of thick stone, it dipped sharply into the ground and formed an arena. Tunnels led into the arena from two sides, and several dozen gem monsters lurked around it. A huge jungle surrounded them on all sides, and Steven found himself grateful for bugspray.

"This," declared Pearl, "is the Jungle Arena!" She took a pose, like she was facing an enemy. "The Diamond Authority used another Paraiba Tourmaline to try to trick soilders into giving themselves up here, until–"

"Boorring," Interrupted Amethyst with a fake yawn. Steven took out a blue notebook from his pocket and wrote something down.

Pearl summoned her spear and flung it at a blue one that was fighting a yellow one. The blue one screeched and ran at them, but Amethyst lashed out her whip and cought it, before slamming it into the ground.

The monster squealed as its form dissipated in a flash of light, and Amethyst quickly snagged its gem with her whip. She brought it closer to her and bubbled it, before looking at the others.

She glanced back at Steven. "This might take awhile. You should head back to the temple."

Sighing, Steven nodded and walked off. Warping back, he decided to follow someone else.

"So, you're gonna just. Follow me around?" Rosey asked Steven as they walked.

He shrugged, ducking under a branch. "I guess. I need to write my report on someone. And Pearl and Amethyst sent me home."

Rosey nodded, finally stopping and examining a tree. They were deep in the woods, in a part that, according to Rosey, his mother had claimed as her own. 

Rosey, finding whatever she was looking for in the tree, summoned her axe and began hacking away at it.

"So," Steven sat on a log and watched. "Why do you get your wood from here specifically?"

Rosey grunted as she pulled her axe out of the wood. "Y'see," she swung again, "Paraiba did something– not sure what, but something– to make the wood in this part of the forest way more durable." Finally, the tree gave, and it fell with a crash. "It's why the beach house can take such a beating."

Steven made a noise of curiosity, taking the little blue notebook out of his pocket and adding on to it.

_Powers:_

_Summoning gem weapon (cutlass)_  
Draw in gems (?)  
Make trees really durable

Looking back up, Steven watched Rosey pick up the fallen tree and drag it to the destination— Beach City.

There, Rosey approached a building on the edge of town. It was a small office, surrounded by a large lumber yard. A muscley blonde woman greeted the Quartz.

"Hey, Quartzy!" She called out. "Who's the kid?"

Rosey perked up and dropped the tree of on the pile before approaching her.

"Barb! This is Steven, Greg and Paraiba's on!" Rosey gestured at Barb. "Steven, this is Barb Miller— you might know her as Sadie's mom."

Steven nodded. Sadie, the girl who went to school in the same bus as him and worked at the Big Donut, held a remarkable resemblance to this woman.

"Anyways, Steven, the rest of my day is gonna be here," Explained Rosey, "and I don't feel like you'd be safe with all the heavy machinery here. So I think you should head back."

Steven sighed and nodded.

Next, Steven decided on Sapphire. 

Unfortunately for him, Sapphire spent most of her time in her temple room looking at the future.

Steven sat on a bank of snow, grateful that it refused to melt. Sapphire sat in front of him, eye closed and face calm. Ice spread out in front of her, creeping forwards.

(Sapphire, under her hair, fought back tears as she watched possible futures.

_"Steven!" Screamed Mint, lunging forwards to grasp at where her son ** ~~[not son, he was Para's]~~** had disappeared over the edge. Amethyst tried to grasp her whip out of her cracked gem, only making it worse._

_Pearl turned to the one who pushed Steven and summoned her spear._

_"I should have done this when Sapphire disappeared!" She screamed before slamming her spear into the red gem._

_**Stop** _

_Rain battered the windows, and Steven could pretend the water on his face was from the storm. Then, a flash of lighting appeared and he wailed, crying again. His fingernails still had red dust under them, and the gashes on his fingers were healing over. A splinter of red, unfortunately, had been in the wound when it healed over._

_**Stop**_

_"You!" Snarled the gem. "You shattered her!" A sword, buzzing with electricity, flashed through the air and made contact with his gem._

_**Stop.** _

_Steven sat in his mother's room, fiddling with something. A thick leather-bound journal with heavy pages, blank and new. On the front, he had carved out space in the leather and lined it with melted warp pad material._

_Then, he had embedded three gems in it. A ruby, a pearl, and an agate._

_Flipping open the book, he cleared his throat and spoke._

_"Testing gem-book, prototype one."_

_Words began appearing on the page, three different letters in front of each sentence._

_R: What did you DO?_

_P: Isn't it obvious? He put us in a book._

_A: Yellow diamond will hear about this!_

_P: Oh shut up you uptight—_

_**Stop.**_ )

Steven sighed. "I guess I'll move on to Mint."

"This," Explained Mint, "is my scrap collection. I scavenge things from gem ruins and use them to make new stuff."

They were in Mint's room, with an array of broken gem tech hovering about a foot off the ground.

"So, what do you do all day?" Steven asked her.

Mint frowned. "I don't really do much other than fight gem monsters, really."

Steven sighed again.

"So, Pearl, can I write my report on you?"

Pearl shook her head. "I'm sorry, Steven, but most of what I do is too violent for a school report."

"Darn."

"I just don't know what I'm going to do, Peedee!" Steven complained, stretching out over his friends desk. "The essay's due tomorrow, and I've barely got anything down! I don't even have a subjects, for Pete's sake!" 

"Why don't you just do one on your dad?" Asked Peedee, scribbling on his own essay.

Steven gasped, bolting up and out the door. "Thanks, Peedee! You're a lifesaver!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reminder that I have a Tumblr at https://www.tumblr.com/blog/paraiba-steven-au, where I post not only the art here but also the rough sketches for any chapter art I make.


	3. Vanilla Bean

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven makes a new friend.

The gems were in a huge ice cave, hollowed out thousands of years prior and lit by magical means. 

Mint walked ahead, with Amethyst to her left and Pearl to her right. Sapphire was in front of Mint, guiding them where they needed to go, and Rosey walked behind with Steven. 

Pearl wore a long-sleeved dark pink outfit, with pale blue socks and light yellow ballet flats. She clutched her spear to her chest, as if afraid a gem monster would jump out at them if they let their guard down for even a split-second.

Eventually, Sapphire paused, holding her hand up to bring the others to a stop. 

"We're here," She announced. "The dungeon is behind there." The blue gem gestured to a large boulder, looking suspiciously warm in the ice cave.

Mint nodded, summoning her sword. Sapphire walked towards the boulder and nudged it just so, pushing it out of the way. It revealed a steep drop, the bottom shrouded in shadow.

Rosey sighed. "Looks like we're gonna have to go without ya, Stevey." Then, reaching out and picking him up, she bubbled him. Tapping it, she sent him away.

Steven appeared in the temple, tinted a red-pink color from the bubble. Scrambling, he stretched the bubble until it popped. As he fell, however, he ran into a blue bubble holding a yellow gem.

He crashed into the floor along with the bubble, and it popped, releasing the gem inside. 

"Oh no." Whispered Steven as he watched the gem reform from where he was recovering his breath. Getting to his feet, he rushed forwards. 

The gem first took the form of a huge goat-insect creature, before shrinking down to a smaller version. It had small horns, dark yellow spots, and, strangely enough, it lost its bug-like legs and gained small hooves. It's gem sat on it's front left leg, glinting in the dull light.

Steven laughed nervously and slowly approached the gem. "Nice goat, non-violent goat, would-never-murder-me goat..."

The goat, seeing him, screeched indignantly. It charged at him, but years of training from Rosey got him to dodge out of the way. Instead, the goat impacted with the wall. It wasn't really dangerous, Steven realised, so much as it was angry.

"Ooh, boy, this is gonna take some explaining."

Strolling up to The Big Donut, Steven struggled to keep Bean, as he had taken to calling her, concealed in his jacket. The little yellow gem squirmed and wiggled, and at one point he was pretty sure she bit him.

Walking into the store, Steven hoped they wouldn't notice. But, alas, neither Lars nor Sadie were blind, and so noticed Bean when she managed to stick her head out of his jacket.

Sadie gasped and leaned over the counter, donuts forgotten. "Oh my god, what is that?" 

Steven grinned and fished Bean out of his jacket, putting her on the counter instead. "I accidentally let her out of her bubble," he admitted, "but she's so cute I can't bring myself to poof her again." 

Sadie let out an 'aww!' and reached out to pet the little beast. "What's her name?" She asked, scratching Bean behind the antler. Lars, disgruntled, handed over Steven's order.

"I've been calling her Bean for now," Steven joined Sadie in showering the monster with affection, "but I'm pretty sure that isn't her name."

Sadie grinned and laughed before speaking. "So, why are you calling her Bean?"

Seven stared at the older girl for a second before leaning in and fake-whispering to her. "She smells like vanilla bean!"She

Sadie's eyes widened and she leaned in to smell for herself. "You're right!"

Bean began investigating Steven's donuts and hot chocolate, and managed to scarf down half a donut before the pair could bring themselves to stop her.

"Alright, Bean, if you're gonna live here, you need to learn some rules." Steven instructed from where he stood on the beach. Bean was behind him, sunbathing on a rock she had dug out of the sand.

"Rule number one," He continued, "is that you can't be mean. If you see someone else being mean, you have to stop them."

Bean had stopped sunbathing and was instead stalking a crab.

"Rule number two," Steven went on, "is that you have to behave yourself. That means a couple things. No stealing, no biting, no tearing stuff up, and no being loud at night. Humans need sleep!"

Bean had caught the crab and was gnawing on a leg.

"The last rule," Steven seemed to realize something, "is that you can't mess with the Gem's missions, and also, since they probably won't want you free, we'll be hiding you from them."

Bean had buried the crab shell and was back to her sunbathing rock.

Steven stared at her from his place. "Any questions?"

Bean began lightly dozing.

"Good."

Steven hurried to the fry stand with Bean curled in his arms, desperately hoping that nobody would see and tell the gems.  
When he got there, Peedee was leaning on his elbow and staring into the distance.

"Peedee!" Exclaimed Steven. "I'll take–"

"Let me guess." Peedee interrupted him. "The bits?"

Steven grinned shyly. "Well, that too, but mostly I wanted some full-sized fries for–"

He was interrupted when Bean shoved her head over the counter, letting out an impatient bark.

"WHAT is that thing?" Exclaimed Peedee, jerking back as if Bean had burned him.

"This is Bean!" Steven introduced her. "She's my new pet, and she smells like vanilla, and she's hungry!"

Mr. Fryman, who had been walking by, called out to Peedee. "Fries first, questions later!"

Peedee, still keeping an eye on Bean, slid both a thing of fry bits and a bunch of fries towards them. 

Steven placed Bean right next to the fries, and she shoved her face into it. Steven stared at her.

"Truly, she is a thing of beauty."

Steven pushed his cart forward, rubbing his chin as he looked at the pet food on the shelf. "Is a monster closer to a dog or a rabbit?"

Bean was curled in a dog bed in the cart, sniffing at a box of treats. Also in the cart was food and water dishes, and several thick blankets Bean had shown a liking to. 

"Mm. You like human food more anyways, and none of the other gem monsters have to eat. So it doesn't really matter." He selected the dog food.

Bean gave an affirmative yip. 

"Oh, yeah!" Steven scratched behind her ears. "You need a collar." Going up to the display, he selected a soft dark blue one with silver tags, glad he had saved up a huge chunk of his allowance each week.

Steven set Bean up in the space under the porch. He tucked the bed in a shady spot, layering the blankets around it to make a den. Just outside of that, he placed the filled food and water dishes.

When he put Bean down, she sniffed at it and curled up in her bed.

She was home.

**Author's Note:**

> I have a Tumblr where I post both art and sketches for this work. It's Paraiba-Tourmaline-AU or, if you can't find it, a link: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/paraiba-steven-au


End file.
